Professor Chak-Sing Lau is currently Chairperson of the Department of Medicine and Chairman of the Board of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong. He is also Chief of Service of the Queen Mary Hospital Department of Medicine.
Professor Lau graduated MBChB from the University of Dundee in 1985. In 1992, he joined the University of Hong Kong (HKU) as Lecturer in Medicine and successfully rose through the ranks to Senior Lecturer in 1997 and Professor in 2000. He returned to his Alma Mata in 2007 to become the first Chair of Rheumatology of the College of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing Studies. In 2010, however, he began his second tenure at HKU as Chair Professor and later (2014) Daniel CK Yu Professor in Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology.
Within HKU Medicine, Professor Lau was Assistant Dean in Information Technology and Planning (2001 – 2004), Assistant Dean in Education and Student Affairs (2005 – 2007), Director of the Bau Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education (2010 – 2018) and Associate Dean for Teaching & Learning (2013 – 2018). In 2016, he co-led the reform of the MBBS Curriculum incorporating a one-year enrichment experience for all medical students .
Professor Lau has been a major player in rheumatology in Hong Kong and beyond. Locally, he was President of the Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology (1997 – 2001) and Chairman of the Hong Kong College of Physicians Subspecialty Board in Rheumatology, Immunology & Allergy (2001 – 2007). In 2001, he founded the Hong Kong Arthritis & Rheumatism Foundation, the first and only local charity organisation that raises funds to support the psychosocial and therapeutic needs of patients with rheumatic diseases. Regionally, Professor Lau co-founded the Asian Congress on Autoimmunity, Huaxia Congress on the Management of Rheumatic Diseases and Ten Topics in Rheumatology in Asia. Notably, he was President of the Asia Pacific League of Rheumatology Associations (APLAR) between 2006 and 2008. In addition, Professor Lau led the development of the Region’s first treatment recommendations for rheumatoid arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis. In 2011, he co-founded the multi-national, multi-centre Asia Pacific Lupus Collaboration . Beyond the Asia Pacific region, Professor Lau is a member of the Outcomes in Rheumatology, European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Scientific Committee and EULAR Task Force on Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Recommendations.
Between 2016 and 2020, Professor Lau was President of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, having served as Vice-President (Education and Examinations) in the previous 5 years. Professor Lau sits on numerous strategic committees and working groups of the Food and Health Bureau, Hospital Authority, Department of Health and the Medical Council of Hong Kong. In December 2020, he was appointed by the Hong Kong SAR Government as Convenor of the Advisory Panel on COVID-19 Vaccines.
